Conor McGregor releases images implying pre-UFC 264 ankle injury, blasts ‘pull out merchants’
- Irishman tweets multiple behind-the-scenes pictures amid social media backlash to Instagram video
- McGregor had claimed UFC’s chief doctor was aware of ‘multiple stress fractures in shin bone above ankle’ before Dustin Poirier fight
Conor McGregor has released multiple behind-the-scenes images of his heavily-taped left ankle from his UFC 264 training camp, after claiming the promotion’s head doctor knew he had stress fractures in his leg going into last weekend’s fight against Dustin Poirier.
The former two-division champion underwent a three-and-half-hour surgery to fix his left tibia and fibula last Sunday, after snapping his shin during the final seconds of the first round of the lightweight main event in Las Vegas.
He received a backlash online after claiming in an Instagram video on Thursday that his leg had been compromised coming into the bout.
“All you pull out merchants wouldn’t last 13 seconds in my world,” McGregor tweeted, alongside the pictures showing his seemingly injured ankle.
He claimed an upcoming four-part Netflix docuseries would have all the behind-the-scenes footage detailing his struggles with the injury.
“Wouldn’t change my journey for no one’s! Greatest of all time!” McGregor added in another tweet, alongside more pictures of his taped-up ankle.
Is this the end of Conor McGregor?
“I was injured going into the fight,” McGregor had said in the Instagram video. “People are asking me, ‘When was the leg broke? At what point did the leg break?’
“Ask Dana White. Ask the UFC. Ask Dr [Jeff] Davidson, the head doctor of the UFC. They knew I had stress fractures in my leg going into that cage.
“It was debated about pulling the thing out because I was sparring without shin pads and I would kick the knee a few times.
“So I had multiple stress fractures in the shin bone above the ankle and then I have trouble with the ankle anyway throughout the years of [expletive] fighting all the time. And I also was rapping my ankle every training session.”
McGregor was released from hospital on Wednesday, and UFC president Dana White said he would be back in the Octagon in a year.
The 33-year-old Irishman also insisted he had needed his leg repaired for a long time because of wear and tear, before snapping it in the final seconds of the first round against Dustin Poirier at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“I‘m essentially getting exactly what I needed to get there,” McGregor added in the video. “I needed to get treatment on my leg. I needed to get treatment on my ankle. I needed to get treatment on my shin bone.
“And I would have never committed to going under the knife unless something like this happened. So, something like this happened, [I am] getting exactly what I needed, and what I needed was a titanium shin bone.
“Now, I have a titanium rod from my knee to the ankle, and the doctor says it‘s unbreakable.”
